The Big Salad

If you do it right, a salad can be a whole meal (and still be good for you). I make the Big Salad when I have a lot of leftovers or have recently been to the Farmers Market. What follows is my favorite combination of ingredients, but the beauty of the Big Salad is that you can put whatever you like in it! This is great for dinner or to take to work for lunch.

 

serves 1

2 cups worth of mixed lettuces

note: in the summer maybe use butter lettuces, leaf lettuces and arugula. In the winter, maybe kale, spinach, and hydroponic Boston butter

1/2 cup protein

note: I usually use leftover cut up chicken breast, but you could also use sliced hard boiled egg, leftover steak from Balsamic Marinated Steak, or shrimp

1/2 avocado cubed

1/2 cup beets cubed or cut into small wedges (or, if you don’t have beets you could use left over potatoes, cut into little cubes — or both!)

1/2 cup diced fresh veggies

note: I like fresh radish, red bell pepper, and fresh sugar snap peas, but you can use anything you have on hand or like

1 tbs toasted nuts

note: pine nuts are lovely, as are walnuts or almonds. Toasting gives them a richer, more enjoyable flavor. To toast, you can put them over low heat in a saute pan, tossing frequently until they begin to become fragrant and brown, or put them on a cookie sheet in the oven at 350, checking often, for 10-15 minutes

1 tsp minced fresh herbs

note: whatever you have on hand: chives, thyme, or even tarragon

1 – 2 tbs fresh goat’s cheese (chevre), crumbled

For the salad dressing, any homemade vinaigrette will do. You can choose from one of the three I provide here (the lemon mustard is my favorite for this particular salad), or make up your own. 

To assemble, toss the greens with the protein, avocado, beets, veggies, and herbs. Then toss with the dressing you’ve prepared. Be sure not to add too much dressing (I usually add half what I think I’ll need, toss, taste, then add more) or too little. 

Put the dressed salad into a serving dish and garnish with the toasted nuts and goat’s cheese. Enjoy!

Or, if you want to take this to work for lunch, you can combine all the ingredients, except for the cheese, nuts, and dressing in a large tupperware. Put the remaining ingredients in their own individual small containers or baggies and combine them right before eating. This also works well as a quick, light dinner. I always feel extra virtuous when I make it, both because it is nutritious and healthy and because I’m using up leftovers rather than wasting them. Win-win!

MENU IDEAS:

To serve as a dinner, pair this with a soup. For lunch, I like to amp up the protein by having a couple of super yummy deviled eggs.